These folks have some incredible spirit and they really enjoy what they do. In fact, many of them claim it's what keeps them going. The problem is: they're really old, so they have a tendency, as all of us will someday, to die.

In the documentary, the chorus is preparing new songs for an upcoming tour. One of the songs reunites a couple of ex-members who left the chorus due to health issues—one had recently been read his last rites before recovering. The two are tasked to sing a duet of Coldplay's insufferable ballad, "Fix You". But, interpreted by these men, the song takes on a whole new tone. Unfortunately, before the performance, one half of the duet passes away. To honor his memory the song is performed by the surviving singer, Fred Knittle.

Put simply: It's devastating. I knew I was done for when I heard his oxygen clicking like the saddest percussion in the world.

"No darling. I'm not weeping like a little girl. I've got a huge fucking piece of dust in my eye. And allergies. DON'T YOU LOOK AT ME!"

You can buy the mp3 of this performance here.

Quotes from insiders to the crisis include such hardball rhetoric as "Internet space in our country has become the wall of a public toilet," according to Hong Joon Pyo, a senior politician in the governing Grand National Party. Additionally, though online defamation is currently taking center stage in the war on the 'net, South Korea is also afflicted by teenage, ultra-addicted online gamers, resulting in the creation of "Internet rescue" boot camps to help them rehabilitate.

And we thought we had problems... Read the full story here.

Watching that trailer makes me want to see this again:

Measure 64: Penalizes person, entity for using funds collected with "public resource" (defined) for "political purpose" (defined)

or

Measure 57: Increases sentences for drug trafficking, theft against elderly and specified repeat property and identity theft crimes; requires addiction treatment for certain offenders.

If you don't know yet, no worries. Tomorrow night, the Bus Project's Jefferson Smith and I are co-hosting an hour-long cram session on the ten most contentious measures. We'll be joined by special guests like Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and State Rep. Greg MacPherson as we dissect everything from the proposed top-two primary system to English language education (and we promise to make it interesting).

Here's the cool part: You can participate from anywhere, whether you're kicking back at home with a beer, or commuting home from work. As long as you've got a phone, you're in, and you can ask us questions about the measures. Hell, you can be in the bathtub while you listen in, for all we care (but please don't tell us this, if we bring you on the air to ask a question). Sign up at busproject.org/teleforum with your phone number, and we'll call you back at 6 pm tomorrow.

Sign up now, and we'll see you tomorrow night.

The pepper harvest has arrived at the Portland Farmer's Market and last Saturday the wicker baskets were full of the strange fruit, looking like the disembodied noses of witches and winos. I've been reading too much Richard Brautigan, I can't help myself...

A sign above one basket read: "Perfect For Roasting!"

"That's a grand idea!" I thought to myself, and so personally picked a parcel of peppers (not pickled). It was only as I was paying that I realized my ambition may have outstripped my abilities—I had no idea how to roast peppers. I asked the lady who took my money and she said something about putting them in plastic, which I found odd because in my personal experience, heat and plastic don't go together. My wife Kitty, however, assured me that she had some idea of the process, having seen it done a couple of times when she worked as the master baker in a gourmet restaurant in Cleveland, OH. I trust her implicitly.

Actually things turned out quite nicely.

Read how I did it after the jump! Plus a recipe (not a poem) for tater-tot casserole!

While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians might eat their Thanksgiving meal on any day of the three day weekend.

Thanksgiving is often celebrated with family,

it is also often a time for weekend getaways for couples to observe the autumn leaves, spend one last weekend at the cottage, or participate in various outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, and hunting.

Jim Hopkins, 51, was a writer and editor at the Gannett group, which publishes USA Today among other titles, where Hopkins worked for 20 years. Lately, Gannett has been firing everybody. Hopkins among them. So he's started a blog about Gannett, selling Google ads and soliciting "voluntary subscriptions" through paypal.

Today, Hopkins set himself a challenge: Make $24,000 from blogging by the end of the year, or "all bets are off." So far, he's raised $315 through voluntary subscriptions, and about 15 cents from Google ads, which really do pay appallingly. He writes:

My experiment opens a window on the reality of today's journalism finance: Can this blog generate enough revenue to support its continued publication? We're going to find out! Relying on two revenue streams -- ads, and a voluntary subscription fee -- I'll share embarrassing details of how much I earn in the months ahead. Starting today, you've got front-row seats to the launch of a 51-year-old journalist's second career.

It's like reading The Old Man and the Sea. The worst part is the "related articles" tag at the end of his post: "Why recessions are actually good times to start a business." You go for your life, Jim. Poor chap.

Fidel Castro says a "profound racism" in the United States will stop millions from voting for Barack Obama in next month's presidential election...
...Castro's written comments were published by state media Saturday. In them, he insists a "profound racism" exists in the U.S. and that millions of whites "cannot reconcile themselves to the idea that a black person ... could occupy the White House, which is called just that: white."

Tip o' the hat to Rich Four Four.

This week on Pure Pod for Now People, Matt & Magsy bring half-suit Wm. Steven Humphrey on the show to try to get insider information about how show negotiations are going, and to talk about Pizzazz. Hilarity ensues. Welcome to episode 92 of Pure Pod for Now People.

"Hi Matt, this is Kevin," said Hazan's handler, on the phone from Powell's, 45 minutes before our scheduled interview at the Heathman yesterday. "I'm afraid Victor [Hazan's husband] has asked that she cancel her interview with you. There's a line stretching around the room and she's going to be exhausted by the time she's signed all the books."

It's not Kevin's job to deal with pissed off journalists, so I thanked him and hung up. Having worked my way through Hazan's new autobiography, Amacord: Marcella Remembers, issued this month by Gotham Books, I'd prepared a dozen questions about Hazan's glittering career. But after a brief post-hang-up outburst, I resigned myself to my place at the bottom of the publicity pile. Yet another reason to tell people you work for the New York Times, I thought. So I decided, instead, to show up at Powell's and join the line:

At 84, it's something of a miracle to see Hazan going on book tour. Since the publication of The Classic Italian Cookbook in 1973, she has sold over half a million books and should by rights be comfortably retired at her home in Florida. Her new book does detail a few business deals gone wrong, like the failed attempt to launch a pasta restaurant at Bloomingdales, and the disastrous opening of a restaurant in Atlanta, circa 1990. But at conservative royalties of $3 a book, not to mention TV work, simple arithmetic makes Hazan a wealthy old lady. I just hope she's still writing out of passion, and not because she needs the money.

MAYOR CHOOSES NOT TO JOIN DELEGATION ON HUMANITARIAN MISSION DUE
TO ECONOMIC VOLATILITY

Mayor Tom Potter will not accompany the 19-member delegation leaving October 15 on a humanitarian mission to Portland Sister City Mutare, Zimbabwe.

While the Mayor remains deeply committed to the mission, he decided late last week that, due to escalating concerns about the economy, it is best for him to remain in Portland.

The Mayor informed the rest of the delegation of his decision Sunday evening (October 12) at a "packing party" to prepare donated medical and other supplies for the trip. According to the Mayor "The global nature of the current economic crisis reminds us just how small a world we live in. While I believe it's important for me to remain in Portland, I believe it's equally important for the rest of the delegation to complete its mission."

The Mayor's wife Karin Hansen and Chief of Staff, Austin Raglione, will make the trip as planned and will serve as the Mayor's official representatives.

Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua was top dog in the domestic box office for a second straight weekend, making a mutt out of the pre-frame favorite for No. 1--Warner Bros.' star-studded Middle East thriller Body of Lies.

Chihuahua fetched an estimated $17.5 million this session, as a miniature weekend-over-weekend drop of just 40% groomed a 10-day cumulative box office of $52.5 million. Lies truly underperformed expectations with a shocking $13.1 million bow good only for a third-place showing.

Sony Screen Gem's horror thriller Quarantine scared up a healthy $14.2 million to open in second place, while Universal's pigskin pic The Express registered a disappointing $4.7 million in a sixth-place debut. And the Fox-distributed family fantasy City of Ember crashed and burned over its first frame with only $3.2 million in 10th place.

The whole world is going insane, and the full story is at The Hollywood Reporter.

Umm: "McCain, meanwhile, dialed back personal attacks on Obama over the weekend that have been prominent recently in the Republican campaign, but vowed he would 'whip' his opponent's 'you know what' in Wednesday's last debate of three debates of the campaign." Well, that should be entertaining (can McCain lift his arms high enough to utilize a whip?). Join us at the Clinton Street Theater or Roots Organic Brewing to witness any whipping yourself, or catch our play-by-play here on Blogtown, starting at 5:30 pm.

Sarah Palin talks to reporters (!) about Troopergate, and Friday evening's report that indicates she abused her power as governor. "Palin said she was 'pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there.'" Hmm.

Meanwhile, John McCain says his campaign is turning around today. He would say that, what with Barack Obama polling 10 points ahead.

The U.S. gets going on the bailing out, with Treasury Secretary Paulson calling for a "confab" of banks this afternoon. And today, the stock market is up!

Also: As the stock markets have plummeted in recent weeks, where has all of the "lost" money gone? (Also, can I have some if I can find it?)

Live from the Rose Garden as the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Utah Jazz in completely meaningless pre-season basketball. But good news, kids, this is the final (home) pre-season contest for Portland, and this afternoon's game will be the Blazers' first look at their division rival, the swinging' Jazz cats from Utah.

The shape of pre-season basketball to come...

See it for yourself:

The Bus Project flipped the theory on its head, however, asking if older people should be able to vote. Check out their video response, featuring the Bus' Jefferson Smith with a fantastic Stossel-esque mustache, and man-on-the-street interviews with "experienced" voters in downtown Portland:

No one wants to read through 2 hours of transcribed interviews from my time here at Blizzcon -- at least, none of you do -- so I'm distilling everything down into a simple list of things I've learned this weekend. Hopefully this will also cover all the questions you guys offered up.

Oh, and as always, if you're wondering about anything I don't cover, hit the comments and ask. I may have it somewhere in all this damn audio stored on my iPhone, or at the very least I can call Blizzard's PR people and bug them.

It's yet another excuse for me to offer sexual favors for an early copy of Diablo III.

Dear Mercury,

Blizzcon is awesome. We spent the day weaving baskets and after the campfire we went for a swim in the lake. One of the other kids was bit by a fish, but he's ok now.

I miss you and mom a lot, and thanks for the care package. One of the older kids stole those peanut butter cookies, but we filled his shoes with ketchup for revenge.

Love, Nexy

(PS: The counselors wanted me to pass along these two videos to show what they've been up to. The above one is six minutes of gameplay from StarCraft 2 and the one at the bottom is six minutes of the newly-revealed Wizard class from Diablo III. If you look close, you can see a dreamcatcher I made at the 3:24 mark.)

The Guardian says the report's findings "could barely have been worse for the Republicans," and describes the decision as a "bodyblow" for McCain.

The Kansas City Star says Palin's "stunning abuses of power sting her campaign."

The AP has video saying her supporters are calling the investigation "political," juxtaposed against a Republican lawmaker on the investigation committee emphasizing how much it wasn't:

The BBC lays it out nice and simple, like. Pointing out that "Mrs Palin did not co-operate in the bi-partisan Legislative Council's investigation, and she always denied any wrong-doing."

You can download the whole report here. Page nine mentions Palin and her husband hired a private investigator to look into Palin's brother-in-law. Page 22 has the chief of police describing how he felt pressured to fire the trooper or be fired by the Palins. Pretty cut and dried, really.

Lastly, to add insult to injury, the Houston Chronicle shows Palin met with dozens of business lobbyists while Governor in Alaska, having told NPR in a recent interview she only met with "two or three." She also courted media attention with plates of brownies for reporters and calls to journalists on their birthdays...in stark contrast to her attacks on the media since joining the Republican presidential ticket.